The present invention relates to a topdressing method and an apparatus therefor, particularly to a method of and an apparatus for properly supplying fertilizer to row crops on a field.
For a large field on which there are planted a great number of crops such as vegetables, it is usually required to establish a technique for preventing uneven growth which is otherwise caused due to uneven transplanting or uneven germination. However, a conventional topdressing operation can only uniformly supply fertilizer to row crops on a field, in a manner such that each crop receives the same amount of fertilizer regardless of whether the crop has a large or small size (i.e., an actual growing state of a crop). As a result, it is difficult to prevent the uneven growth of the row crops on a field.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved topdressing method and an apparatus therefor, in order that each crop may receive an appropriate amount of fertilizer in view of its actual growing state such as its size, thereby ensuring an even growth of a great number of row crops planted on a field, so as to solve the above-mentioned problem peculiar to the above-discussed prior art.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method of performing a topdressing operation on an agriculture field, comprising the steps of: individually and continuously taking pictures of crops planted on a field to obtain crop picture data; processing the crop picture data of each crop to investigate the growing state of each crop; performing a topdressing operation in view of the growing state of each crop.
In one aspect of the present invention, the topdressing operation includes producing a commend to a topdressing device to control an amount of a fertilizer to be applied to a crop in accordance with its size which has been detected.
According to the present invention, there is also provided an apparatus for performing a topdressing operation on an agriculture field, comprising: a movable main body such as a tractor; a topdressing device provided on the rear side of the movable main body for applying an amount of fertilizer to each crop; a video camera provided on the front side of the movable main body in a manner such that said video camera can take pictures of row crops planted on the field while travelling on the filed; a picture data processing computer adapted to process picture data fed from the video camera so as to measure the leaf size of each crop; a topdressing operation controlling computer adapted to produce a command to the topdressing device to control an amount of a fertilizer to be applied to a crop, in accordance with picture dada fed from the picture data processing computer.
In another aspect of the present invention, the topdressing device includes an electric clutch and a liquid fertilizer nozzle, the electric clutch is adapted to control the operation of the liquid fertilizer nozzle, in accordance with a control signal fed from the topdressing operation controlling computer.
In a further aspect of the present invention, the topdressing device includes a liquid fertilizer tank and an electromagnetic valve, the electromagnetic valve is adapted to control the flow rate of a liquid fertilizer flowing from the tank to the liquid fertilizer nozzle, in accordance with a control signal fed from the topdressing operation controlling computer.